Paul Connell Movies

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel about brutal individual survival in a Russian labor camp in the 1950s is brought to the screen in this stark and spare adaptation by director Caspar Wrede, writer Ronald Harwood, and cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Tom Courtenay is Ivan, who is a prisoner in the eighth year of a ten-year sentence at a Siberian labor camp. Ivan's day consists of small accomplishments that enable Ivan to retain his humanity during conditions of extreme oppression -- he does not get sick, he grabs an extra smoke, he discovers a saw, and he helps to work on a concrete wall. When he prepares for sleep, Ivan is contented that the guards have not beaten him and that he has gotten through the day in one piece. And tomorrow morning, Ivan must start all over again. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Hell Below Zero was one of several 1950s films made in Britain by Hollywood's Alan Ladd. The star plays Duncan Craig, who signs onto a whaling ship to get the facts behind the death of Judy Nordahl's (Joan Tetzel) father. While on a whaling expedition near Antarctica, Craig becomes suspicious of skipper Erik Bland (Stanley Baker). These suspicions are confirmed when Craig and Judy are targetted for an "accidental" demise in the frigid waters of the Antarctic. The plot never interferes with the action highlights, which under the direction of Mark Robson are well worth the price of admission. Based on a novel by Hammond Innes, Hell Below Zero was, like Ladd's British vehicles Paratrooper and The Black Knight, released in the US by Columbia. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Despite its lighthearted title, Lady Godiva Rides Again is a fairly potent indictment of the darker side of beauty contests. Waitress Marjorie (Pauline Stroud) enters one competition after another, hoping for fame and fortune. She manages to make the finals of a "Lady Godiva" contest, never suspecting that the outcome has been rigged. By accident, Marjorie wins First Prize, a huge sum of money and a movie contract. Alas, she hasn't the talent to parlay her win into a lasting career, and soon Marjorie is scrounging around for any "girlie show" job she can find. Only when reduced to performing nude in a French cabaret review is Marjorie rescued by her Australian boyfriend Larry Burns (John McCallum), who makes her promise to stop all this nonsense and settle down to domesticity. The well-chosen cast includes Dennis Price as a lascivious movie star and Stanley Holloway and Gladys Henson as the girl's nonplused parents. Featured in smaller roles are such future leading ladies as Kay Kendall, Diana Dors, Dagmar (later Dana) Wynter and, in an uncredited bit, Joan Collins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi